Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Waitin' on news

Don't get me wrong - playoff baseball is great.

With the Jays on the sidelines (newsflash!), there are still small joys to be found, and I'm wringing every last ounce possible out of the season. It might not result in the same level of enjoyment as, say, a Travis Snider opposite-field shot, but getting the opportunity to yell "SUCK IT, JETER!" as the Captain grounds into a (bogus) double play is still something. Like methadone, I guess.

Yes, the baseball fan in me is still religiously glued to the set as we march towards crowning a new (or repeat?) World Champion, but the raging lunatic Jays fan in me still scours the usual sources for news. And I'm still looking. And waiting.

I seem to recall freshly minted GM Anthopoulos hinting strongly that news on direction would come sooner rather than later, but I suppose it's only prudent to hold the line until Beeston names his successor (if there is one to name). Stop me if you've heard that before.

And so we wait. The guess here is that we're about to embark on a r-r-r-r-r-rebuild (I stutter when I say it), as the young GM looks to rework the franchise in his own mould. I could be wrong (it's happened before). Maybe the front office and ownership really does come through with this magical pile of money we are continually told is there to spend. But honestly, I have my doubts, friends.

I don't want to consider just what that might entail - until I'm forced to.

Grinding axesHonestly, his body isn't even cold yet, and Griff still feels the need to plant his boot in JP's ribs.

Now, to be fair, Griffin makes several salient and entirely defensible points within his latest mailbag....and I understand that ol' Rich was never a Ricciardi supporter (newsflash pt II!).... but this latest salvo was way over the top.

And I mean, way over, man. Like, past the bounds of decency:

"Not to be overly simplistic, but the difference for the Jays between the Ricciardi regime past and the Anthopoulos years to come is like the difference between two countries - one governed by a dictatorship and another by a parliamentary system. Yes, the Ricciardi statue in the village square has been toppled and democracy takes over, signaling the dawn of a new Blue Jays day."

I've laid down my fair share of outrageous innuendo here in the blogosphere.....but - in my humble opinion - Griff really crossed the lines of good taste just to work another shot in at the deposed GM.

And, uh, about that analogy? Let's hope things work out a little better in "the dawn of a new Blue Jays day" than the "real-life" scenario alluded to.

14 comments:

Anonymous
said...

So....Griff's newest beef with JP is that he didn't embrace the principles of democracy during his 8 year reign of (t)error? He failed because he wasn't democratic enough? I guess that may be the case, but being 'democratic' may be the least of a GM's worries when the Yankees and Red Sox are rolling tanks into Griff's idyllic and hypothetical town square.

I suppose what Griff is in a way trying to say is that if you are GM of the Jays and plan on ruling with an iron fist, then at least have the audacity to be a genius (or model yourself after the Twins). If not, then you will only fail, irrespective of what division you play in.

I imagine Griff thinks that valuing input from others is a sign of 'democracy', but ultimately AA has to make the final decision and no amount of rationality can predict if it will work out in the future (this concept seems to escape some sports writers who lean too heavily on their hindsight vision). Theoretically, AA can have a legion of idiotic sycophants working underneath him and yet if they are given input to what he should do, then in theory he can democratically come to bad decisions.

Maybe Griff shouldn't play fast and loose with analogies he doesn't understand so well.

I'm really interested to see what Griff's writing will be like next season now that JP's gone. I mean, I'm sure he'll still find space to take the occasional dig at him, but really, pretty much all of his articles and opinions centred around JP's supposed incompetence. Do you think we'll see a new, happier Griff? Or is he just going to find somebody else to shit on all the time?

MLBTR has an article up from the The Boston Globe suggesting that Stephen Drew of the Diamondbacks might be available in the right trade. I realize his stats compare pretty closely to Scutaro's Career year, but Drew is also only 26 and the Dbacks have a crushing need for pitching depth.

As for rebuiding, I think it would be a mistake to try and compete, that is the sure way to ensure mediocrity and the main reason the Jays have never been able to get over the hump. Just look at the Leafs.

This team needs to trade every piece that is not part of the long term plan which has value. This includes Halladay, Downs, Frasor, Encarnacion, Bautista, etc. Stock the system with young talent and then when this talent develops and it looks like they are close to being seriously competitive, only then do you spend the money to add the missing pieces.

This does not necessarily mean a total rebuild, this team can add pieces that are close, or young enough, like a Hardy, Drew, Gamel, Wood, Smoak, Baumgartner, etc.

Also, I would target a few free agents willing to sign one year deals (like Abreu this season) who will have value come the trade deadline who I can either trade for more pieces or offer arbitration at the end of the year for more draft picks.

AA has identified he hopes to resign both Scutaro and Barajas, which leads me to believe one of the two conclusions to be true:

1) This is a posturing move to save face in front of fans in order to make it look like they tried there darndest to bring back these guys, when in reality they had no intention on resigning them whatsoever.

2) AA believes the best strategy is to bring back last years team exactly. He feels that what prevented them from winning last year was that they were not making enough money. Therefore if he pays everyone more, that will put them over the top.